National Labor Expert: Right-To-Work Just the Beginning for Missouri

Show-Me State poised to become next Wisconsin for labor reform

Monday, Feb. 6, 2017

Contact:Chantal LovellMedia Relations Manager989-698-1914

MIDLAND, MICH. — Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens signed Senate Bill 19 today, making Missouri the nation’s 28th right-to-work state. But that is just the beginning for the state that could become the next Wisconsin for labor reform.

“Signing right-to-work legislation is worthy of congratulations in its own right, but Gov. Greitens could do much more for his state and the country if he moves forward with additional labor reform bills that are pending,” said F. Vincent Vernuccio, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “If passed, Senate Bill 210 would have monumental impact on the rights and freedoms of Missouri workers. SB 210 would be the strongest labor reform since Wisconsin’s Act 10. If Gov. Greitens signs this bill, he could be the next Scott Walker and help usher in a new era of labor reform in the country.”

Vernuccio, who testified several times before the Missouri Legislature as it debated right-to-work, said the reforms contained within SB 210 are so significant that they could set off a wave of pro-worker and pro-business reforms, much like Act 10 did after Gov. Walker signed it in 2011. Also known as Sen. Bob Onder’s Government Union Reform Act, SB 210 would:

Protect the voting rights of government union members by allowing them to periodically recertify, or re-elect, their union;

End taxpayer-funding of union work called “release time;”

Subject government unions to the same transparency requirements as those of private sector unions; and

Establish the right to a secret ballot in government unions’ organizing elections.

SB 210 is the keystone of a package of reform bills that would also repeal the state’s “prevailing wage” law, which costs taxpayers by inflating the price of state construction contracts. Another bill in the package would also prohibit the withholding of political money for unions from state payrolls.

Many, such as The New York Times and Rush Limbaugh, have credited the signing of Act 10 as the start of Gov. Walker’s rise to his current status of being a household name in American politics.

Vernuccio is available for comment on Missouri’s new right-to-work law and the impact it could have nationally. To set up an interview with Vernuccio, please contact:

Chantal LovellMedia Relations Manager989-251-8388 (call or text)

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